New Book

Here’s a rough idea of what I want to accomplish with my new book. Last fall, I published Henrietta’s Journal. It took the form of a diary written by a young English woman who came to Charleston, South Carolina as a bride. The story was set in the 1830s and focused on Henrietta’s struggles to adapt to a society based on the peculiar institution of slavery, an economy based on a single crop—cotton, and a strict patriarchal social order.

The new book, tentatively called Henrietta’s Legacy, jumps ahead some 25 years, landing the reader at the outbreak of the Civil War. The family has undergone some changes, of course, and there are secrets and closeted skeletons galore. The keys to some of the 1860 problems lie hidden in the 1830s diary. I want each book to be able to stand alone, but I’d also like the reader to be able to jump back and forth between the two. In chapter two, for example, Henrietta’s brother-in-law is contemplating becoming a smuggler, a latter-day pirate, and a blockade runner. Henrietta reminds him that he’s been talking about this crazy idea for 25 years. I would like the Legacy reader to be able to jump to the relevant episode in Henrietta’s Journal and read the letter he wrote to his father about the same idea during his first trip to Cuba in 1835.

For those readers who will purchase the trade paper editions of both books, it will be a simple matter to add the appropriate page numbers to the new text. But what about the Kindle editions? Digital versions of the two books should make this possible, but I’ve never seen it happen. Which of these formats do you recommend?

1. The reader has both books separately on the same device, and uses the section numbers to jump back and forth. But how would that work? Can you keep two books going at once on a Kindle?

2. The new book uses footnotes at the end of the new book to show nothing but the relevant quotes.

3. The two books are published in an additional format—as a boxed set that contains both complete manuscripts with internal connections between them. The Journal, by the way, has approximately 83,000 words; I’m guessing that Legacy will come close to 100,000 words. That will make a file of nearly 200,000 words, but will leave the choice up to the reader.

A month or so ago, I posted several Christmas resolutions
about not using the holidays to sell more books, or to insist that I knew what
your family and friends wanted to read, or to bribe you into donating to my own
favorite charity. Those resolutions
worked (all too well!) for the entire holiday season. I quit posting about my
books, and you quit buying them or borrowing them to read. Maybe that’s because you just didn’t have
time for reading between batches of cookies and last-minute shopping trips.
Fortunately, I’m now seeing a reversal. In the past few days, several people
have started reading again, which warms both my heart and my bank account.

I also promised myself that I would try to enjoy the season
and take a break from writing. That one worked well, too. I’ve lapsed a couple
of times, but my total output for the past 35 days has amounted to less than
5000 words. I filled my days with household chores, decorating, shopping (much
of it on-line), cooking, and vegetating in front of the TV. I came close to
becoming a reality-show addict—baking contests, remodeling demolition derbies,
silly quiz shows geared toward offering lots of money in the early minutes and
then yanking some or all of it away at the end of the show. Most of these were
reruns but ones I had never seen. I’m
ready to push the OFF button and get back to work, although I fear I’ll be
side-tracked by the upcoming Olympics, as will many of you.

Still, if you’re reading again, it’s time for me to start
writing again. I have the outline of a
new book and files of research materials to fill in the historical details of
the start of the Civil War. I also have the germ of an idea to make this new
book an innovative reading experience.
The problem? I know what I would like to see happen, but I’m not sure
how to get there. I’d like your suggestions. I’ll explain the tentative plan
and its problems in tomorrow’s post. For
now, I need to stop blogging and start recreating the world of 1859.

Today, Katzenhaus Books proudly announces the release of their new book, The Second Mouse Goes Digital: Self-Publishing Comes of Age.

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While this blog has been out of service, I've been busy getting ready to publish a new version of my "how-to" guide for self-publishers. The launch day is a week from today, so, for the next few days, I want to catch you up on the book details and give you a glimpse of the contents.

Prologue: So, You Want to Write a Book

We begin with an imaginary conversation between Second Mouse and a budding writer who is considering what kind of publication would be best for her particular book idea. They discuss the various publishing options available today, along with their advantages and drawbacks of each one. Then Second Mouse offers a set of self-evaluation questions to help the writer determine where her strengths and weaknesses lie. Finally, they touch on one of the keys to a successful career in any field—giving the customer what he is looking for.

Chapter 1: Establishing Yourself in the Business.

The Second Mouse is again the guide as she leads the writer through the story of her own experience as a writer and the factors that convinced her to become an indie author. They look at the lessons she learned the hard way as she tried to find an agent or publisher—what it means to have a “platform” and the importance of the internet.

Chapter 2: The Legalities and the Niceties

In this chapter, the guide is Beatrix Potter’s Mrs. Tittlemouse. She discusses the need for a business plan, the importance of tax considerations, the process of setting up a home office, hiring an office staff, and establishing a website for your new business. These are the housekeeping details that can get you off to a solid start.

Yesterday, I tried to give you an idea of what “Henrietta’s
Journal” is all about. Today, here are the answers to a couple of questions
that keep popping up.

Q. Are these all new characters, or is there a connection to
your other books?

A. For the most part, the Beauchenes are an entirely new
family. However, it helps me to visualize the story if I can relate it to
others I’ve written, so there’s at least one connection. Sharp eyes will
recognize Elizabeth Dubois, whom you have met before in “Damned Yankee” and “Yankee
Reconstructed.” In those books she was an old lady, the widowed mother of Susan
Grenville, and grandmother to the Grenville children. In this story she is
still a young woman in her thirties, and her daughter Susan appears briefly at
age seven. Elizabeth befriends Henrietta early in the new book, helps her
adjust to life in Charleston, and serves as godmother to Henrietta’s children.

Q. I want to know more about Henrietta’s later life as the
Civil War draws nearer. Will there be a second book?

A. At the moment I am planning a second volume. Of course, I
can’t promise anything, for, as Henrietta would be the first to tell you, life
changes very rapidly. However, as my mother would have said, “I’ll do it, God
willin’ an’ the creek don’t rise!” But here’s what I think will be coming a
couple of years down the road.

The idea for “Henrietta’s Journal” came out of a rough sketch
for a much larger book dealing with the beginning of the Civil War, its effect
on the cotton trade, and some interesting but little-known facts about southern
blockade runners, spies, and smugglers during the war. The diary Henrietta kept was
originally going to hold some clues to a couple of mysterious happenings in the
larger book. Then the diary took on something of a life of its own and became a
stand-alone novel. The next book will take place some twenty-five years later.
The main characters will be Henrietta’s children (now all grown up). They will
solve some of their 1860s dilemmas by re-discovering the diary their mother
wrote and uncovering the clues she left in the journal.

Eventually the two books will have close ties. I’m even
considering an electronic edition for the two stories that would let the reader
click back and forth between Civil War crises and the unsolved issues in the 1830’s journal. I’m
as curious to know what will happen as you are!